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Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

science.org

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Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#11

Post by NineStarPoint »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #5
jmclnx wrote: post #3

To me, it is insects. And maybe their close relatives in the oceans and lakes.

They're talking about total mass. So I think insects and whatever is in the ocean would probably be in very last place. According to them, it's white-tailed deer. > The heavyweight champion is that furtive denizen of parks, meadows, and forests throughout the Americas, the white-tailed deer. It accounts for almost 10% of the total biomass of wild land mammals.

Truth of it’s the opposite. Even now general estimates put insect and fish biomass at significantly eclipsing mammal biomass. Insects might be small, but there are so many of them that it doesn’t matter.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#12

Post by garborg »

NineStarPoint wrote: post #11
VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're talking about total mass. So I think insects and whatever is in the ocean would probably be in very last place. According to them, it's white-tailed deer. > The heavyweight champion is that furtive denizen of parks, meadows, and forests throughout the Americas, the white-tailed deer. It accounts for almost 10% of the total biomass of wild land mammals.

Truth of it’s the opposite. Even now general estimates put insect and fish biomass at significantly eclipsing mammal biomass. Insects might be small, but there are so many of them that it doesn’t matter.

Indeed. Insects, then fish, then everything else, per https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/humans-make-110000...

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#13

Post by h2odragon »

I still think we fail to perceive entire orders of life, in the air around and above us, in the earth below us; as well as having a very tenuous grasp of the mechanics of the ecosystems on our scales that we can observe and participate in.

Surely if we're going by weight then the bacteria rule the earth, right?

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#14

Post by krisoft »

garborg wrote: post #12
NineStarPoint wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truth of it’s the opposite. Even now general estimates put insect and fish biomass at significantly eclipsing mammal biomass. Insects might be small, but there are so many of them that it doesn’t matter.

Indeed. Insects, then fish, then everything else, per https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/humans-make-110000...

> Insects, then fish, then everything else,

That is not how I read your source. It seems to be plants, then bacteria, then everything else.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#15

Post by nwatson »

What I'd really like to know: the approximate total mass of all the COVID-19 viruses/virii that have infected humans since the start of the pandemic; the volume (in a vacuum perhaps) these virii would take up if dumped into a container and given a few shakes. Would they take up a thimble? shot glass? coffee mug? liter bottle? drinks cooler? bathtub? car cabin? back yard swimming pool? olympic pool? Larger? (ChatGPT was just full of excuses on this question. Past searches also turned up nothing.)

Edit: searches

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#16

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

h2odragon wrote: post #13

I still think we fail to perceive entire orders of life, in the air around and above us, in the earth below us; as well as having a very tenuous grasp of the mechanics of the ecosystems on our scales that we can observe and participate in. Surely if we're going by weight then the bacteria rule the earth, right?

Yes. We're just their department of transportation.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#17

Post by pfdietz »

NineStarPoint wrote: post #11
VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're talking about total mass. So I think insects and whatever is in the ocean would probably be in very last place. According to them, it's white-tailed deer. > The heavyweight champion is that furtive denizen of parks, meadows, and forests throughout the Americas, the white-tailed deer. It accounts for almost 10% of the total biomass of wild land mammals.

Truth of it’s the opposite. Even now general estimates put insect and fish biomass at significantly eclipsing mammal biomass. Insects might be small, but there are so many of them that it doesn’t matter.

There's a species of small fish in the deep ocean that may have as many as a quadrillion individuals.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#18

Post by goatlover »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #5
jmclnx wrote: post #3

To me, it is insects. And maybe their close relatives in the oceans and lakes.

They're talking about total mass. So I think insects and whatever is in the ocean would probably be in very last place. According to them, it's white-tailed deer. > The heavyweight champion is that furtive denizen of parks, meadows, and forests throughout the Americas, the white-tailed deer. It accounts for almost 10% of the total biomass of wild land mammals.

The ocean has a far greater area than the land, and life there has been around much longer. Why would you think it would be in last place?

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#19

Post by Mistletoe »

h2odragon wrote: post #13

I still think we fail to perceive entire orders of life, in the air around and above us, in the earth below us; as well as having a very tenuous grasp of the mechanics of the ecosystems on our scales that we can observe and participate in. Surely if we're going by weight then the bacteria rule the earth, right?

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2018/5/2...

Looks like plants outweigh it all by a lot.

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